Bonus Chapter A Working within the Legal Environment
Consumerism
A social movement that seeks to increase and strengthen the rights and powers of buyers in relation to sellers
Sales taxes
Taxes paid on merchandise sold and at the retail level
Property taxes
Taxes paid on real and personal property
Excise taxes
Taxes paid on selected items such as tobacco, alcoholic beverages, airline travel, gasoline, and firearms
Income taxes
Taxes paid on the income received by businesses and individuals
Chapter 7
"Straight bankruptcy" or liquidation (used by businesses and individuals)
Uniform Commercial Code
A comprehensive commercial law adopted by every state in the united states that covers sales laws and other commercial laws
Patent
A document that gives inventors exclusive rights to their invention for 20 years
Copyright
A document that protects a creator's right to materials such as books, articles, photos, paintings, and cartoons
Contract
A legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties
Tort
A wrongful act that causes injury to another person's body, property, or reputation
Involuntary bankruptcy
Bankruptcy procedures filled by a debtor's creditors
Precedent
Decisions judges have made in earlier cases that guide the handling of new cases
Administrative agencies
Federal or state institutions and other government organizations created by congress or state legislature with delegated power to create rules and regulations within their mandated area of authority
Negotiable instruments
Forms of commercial paper (like checks) that are transferable among businesses and individuals and represent a promise to pay a specified amount
Implied warranties
Guarantees concerning products legally imposed on the seller
Taxes
How the government (federal, state, and local) raise money
Negligence
In tort law, behavior that causes unintentional harm or injury
Types of taxes
Income, property, sales, excise taxes
Voluntary bankruptcy
Legal procedures initiated by a debtor
Strict product liability
Legal responsibility for harm caused by a product regardless of fault
Product liability
Part of tort law that holds businesses liable for harm that results from the production, design, or use of products they market
Chapter 11
Reorganization (Used almost exclusively by businesses)
Chapter 13
Repayment (used by individuals)
Contract law
Set of laws that specify what constitutes a legally enforceable agreement
Consideration
Something of value, it is one of the requirements of a legal contract
Express warranties
Specific representations by the seller that buyers rely on regarding the goods they purchase
Statutory law
State and federal constitutions, legislative enactments, treaties of the federal government, and ordinances-in short, written law
Common law
The body of law that comes from decisions handed down by courts, also referred to as unwritten law
Judiciary
The branch of government chosen to oversee the legal system through a system of courts
Bankruptcy
The legal process by which a person, business, or government entity, unable to meet financial obligations is relieved of those obligations by a court that divides any assets among creditors, allowing creditors to get at least part of their money and freeing the debtor to begin anew
Damages
The monetary settlement awarded to a person who is injured by a breach of contract
Business Law
The rules, statues, codes, and regulations that provide a legal framework for the conduct of business and that are enforceable by court action
Breach of contract
When one party fails to follow the terms of a contract
